A clinician may implant a medical device within a person or animal (i.e., a patient). The medical device may provide therapy to the patient. For example, the medical device may deliver electrical stimulation to neural or other tissues of the patient to alleviate a symptom, such as pain. In some cases, the clinician may need to program or reprogram the implanted medical device while the medical device is implanted in the patient. For example, the clinician may need to adjust an amplitude, pulse width, or pulse rate of the stimulation, or change the configuration of implanted electrodes through which the stimulation is delivered.
The implanted medical device may be equipped with one or more wireless communications technologies to enable the clinician to program the implanted medical device while the medical device remains implanted in the patient. For example, the clinician may hold an antenna for an external programming device (or the device itself) equipped with an equivalent wireless communication technology close to the patient. The clinician may then use the external programming device to wirelessly communicate with the implanted medical device. These wireless communications may, for example, reprogram the implanted medical device or retrieve data from the medical device.